Mountain Equipment Glacier 500 Sleeping Bag Review
It has the best warmth-to-weight ratio here; testers pushed it 10 degrees below its 23°F rating.
Brand: Mountain Equipment
Model: Glacier 500
Durability
4 “After 49 straight days in Utah’s backcountry, this bag was in better shape than I was. Not a scratch!” says one tester, a guide. The 30-denier nylon shell showed only slight pilling after our abrasion test. (Note: All other things being equal, 30-denier nylon is about the equivalent of 40-denier polyester. )
Warmth
5 Vertical chambers (better at keeping the 725-fill duck down on top of you) cover the core, and horizontal baffles (which use less material, reducing weight) wrap the legs and feet. The seven-baffle hood “fits my noggin better than any other I’ve tried,” says a tester. The water-resistant nylon shell never wet out during a rainy week of tarp- camping in Utah’s Wasatch range.
Fit
3 The sharply tapered shape (30 to 21 inches from torso to footbox) produced mixed feelings. One tester sums it up: “I was comfortable below the temp rating thanks to the narrow fit, but it felt too snug in warmer conditions.”
Features
4 Overlapping draft tubes protect the full-length zipper and merge into the collar, creating an unbroken seal from head to toe. “Zero cold spots during nearly two months of bivvying in southwest Utah,” our tester says.
Total: 3.9
$320; 2 lbs. 9 oz.; 23°F; mountain-equipment.co.uk